Tight Ropes And Ballet Dancing Poem by RIC BASTASA

well to tell you frankly
i had my days
of walking on tight ropes
under the carefull watch of my grandpa
and i was so frightened then
when i was a child
because the moment i fall
he beats me with a
very hard stick
fromt he guava tree
and i cried alone
in the attic
where the black birds
are staying steady
with their claws on
the power lines
and they never get electrecuted
and i learned
from them sometimes

and i stopped crying

and the ballet dancing did not stop
under the careful watch of
grandmother who too held a stick
and beat me when
i fell on my broken toes

and again i cried in the attic
many times when i was once a child
and i look over the window and see
the clouds drifting near my
hands

i touch them and they are so soft
and gentle and i learn too from them

and soon when the tears finally consumed themselves
i had the wings of the black crow
and the puffy touch of the clouds
and then i fly
and then i drifted in my dreams
my imaginations

kindred spirit
rising to the heavens

i once dreamed. i once died.
i learned.

i am alive. and i am writing
poems

for myself.